Commentary on Oblique Strategies

My personal thoughts on each oblique strategy by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt

“Oblique Strategies: Over One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemmas,” is a card-based method for promoting creativity jointly created by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt, first published in 1975. Physically, it takes the form of a deck of 7-by-9-centimeter printed cards in a black box. Each card offers a challenging constraint intended to help artists (particularly musicians) break creative blocks by encouraging lateral thinking.

One of the cards from the 2001 edition writes the following:

“These cards evolved from our separate observations on the principles underlying what we were doing. Sometimes they were recognized in retrospect (intellect catching up with intuition), sometimes they were identified as they were happening, sometimes they were formulated.

They can be used as a pack (a set of possibilities being continuously reviewed in the mind) or by drawing a single card from the shuffled pack when a dilemma occurs in a working situation. In this case, the card is trusted even if its appropriateness is quite unclear. They are not final, as new ideas will present themselves, and others will become self-evident.”

I have been intrigued with the deck from reading Ben Wardle’s biography on Mark Hollis, A Perfect Silence. Hollis thought the deck was silly, saying “The only problem is if it says ‘Make a three-album boxed set out of one track’, then you’re in trouble. I was told what one of those cards actually was - something ridiculous like ‘pursue the meaning and find the truth’, it was really over the top!”

Even more interesting is that such strategies were used by Hollis anyway. Such as “Honour thy error as a hidden intention”; “Use unqualified people”; “Make a sudden, destructive unpredictable action; incorporate” and, most tellingly, “Don’t break the silence.”

I shall now go over the 200-plus oblique strategies and how I think about each one. Perhaps what is powerful about these aphorisms is that they lead into a new design paradigm about creating sensitive and intimate art. I wish to embody the power of Mark Hollis through my art, and these techniques by Eno and Schmidt reveal greater truths.

What follows are my brief first thoughts on these strategies. Just shuffle the cards, reveal one, and follow the rule.

…Now on to “The Oblique Strategies.”:

My Notes:

Organic machinery.

What makes machines “organic?” Is the synthesizer supposed to be “human,” hence “analog?” Can the machine make mistakes?

A line has two sides.

Do I make a diagram with it? Is this about choosing one side over the other? What is the binary?

A very small object - Its centre.

What’s inside the mushroom house in the forest? What about interior design?

Abandon (disconnect from) desire.

I don’t want to do that. I need desire to make my art. I need design to be an intellectual! Why would you ever assume I should be something I am not?

Abandon normal instructions.

I do like doing this when learning the rules of a new board game. I just “fudge” out the rule I don’t like when I am playing with friends. If I broke them, a new game arises from the medium.

Accept advice.

I will only do this with my favorite writers and from internet friends.

Accretion.

I don’t want to overkill the canvas with a sample collage or avalanche of drum hits!

Adding on.

Maybe I can add one more melody or device to it.

Allow an easement (an easement is the abandonment of a stricture).

I could collaborate with someone. Or maybe I should directly sample and take what I want without citation.

Always give yourself credit for having more than personality.

This is where I could talk about my love life.

Always the first steps.

How did I begin with the form?

Animal noises.

Sascha Konietzko’s process, but pick an animal sample.

Are there sections? Consider transitions.

What is the cliffhanger for the next chapter? What about the fade-in of the next part?

Ask a computer program to repeat your last action.

Sometimes people record themselves and look back on the audio they said 20 minutes ago.

Ask people to work against their better judgment.

I try to do this all the time by giving out free lectures on panel spaces. What is something they don’t see in this project?

Ask your body.

I’ll likely go surfing on Gelbooru and masturbate again.

Assemble some of the elements in a group and treat the group.

Am I supposed to see the group as my enemy? Or is it a new faction?

Back up a few steps. What else could you have done?

Retake and record what I was trying to originally do.

Balance the consistency principle with the inconsistency principle.

The best results are from beautiful mistakes and “happy accidents.”

Be dirty.

I love working naked and getting an erection while drinking coffee in the art room.

Be extravagant.

I really do want to keep buying NES games for my AliExpress bootleg collection.

Be less critical more often.

I can’t stand the stupid kill themselves in front of me.

Breathe more deeply.

Maybe I do need to take a break.

Build bridges.

Guess I am sending the DM to a pen pal I neglected for quite some time.

Burn bridges.

I have a chopping block list.

Call your mother and ask her what to do.

I’ll do that when I’m bored.

Cascades.

It’s a texture that I’m after.

Change ambiguities to specifics.

I want to make conceptual art.

Change specifics to ambiguities.

I’ll take a note from Gene Wolfe.

Change instrument roles.

That’s why I’m into synthpop and hate guitars.

Change nothing and continue with immaculate consistency.

It is what it is.

Children’s voices speaking.

Boards of Canada trauma police.

Children’s voices singing.

Boards of Canada hurtcore.

Cluster analysis.

What are the properties of this artwork?

Consider different fading systems.

Go in and go out with the music in the middle of the track.

Consider transitions.

“In the mix” is what a good album is about.

Consult other promising sources.

This is where I sit down and read a book.

Consult other unpromising sources.

I don’t need to be upset with the psych-warfare games on X.

Convert a melodic element into a rhythmic element.

I like the Moog DFAM because it does this.

Courage!

I’ll call her on the phone again out of the blue.

Cut a vital connection.

I’ll miss her.

Cut a virtual connection.

I’ll stop posting.

Decorate, decorate.

What I like, until what doesn’t make sense.

Define an area as “safe” and use it as an anchor.

Everything goes back to that thesis. It follows perfect logic.

Describe the landscape in which this belongs.

I’ll end up writing a new novel instead.

Destroy nothing.

It will come out clear without any altercation or morphing.

Destroy the most important thing.

I like this being about sadism and pornography. Kind of like “trauma bonding” in a way.

Discard an axiom.

I’ll become John Cage!

Disciplined self-indulgence.

I want to talk about romance and intimacy and let the world know about it.

Disconnect from desire.

Nope. Not possible. Desire is the drive for art.

Discover the recipes you are using and abandon them.

I guess I’ll have to start all over again.

Discover your formulas and abandon them.

I’ll try to make a rock album.

Display your talent.

I’ll work with spoken word and performance.

Distorting time.

I’ll try and make a 30-second song.

Do nothing for as long as possible.

Hopefully, it won’t be boring 10 minutes later.

Do something boring.

That’s when people stop reading.

Do something sudden, destructive and unpredictable.

I try to do this all the time with violence and showing what I really want in this life.

Do the last thing first.

I’ll cry to everyone what I want.

Do the washing up.

If everything went back to nothing, where would everything go?

Do the words need changing?

It would certainly sound fancy.

Do we need holes?

Yes. I tried to make that a thing with my last novel.

Don’t avoid what is easy.

That’s why I made .mod music for the Amiga and see how it went.

Don’t be afraid of things because they’re easy to do.

I’ll give the generator devices a chance.

Don’t be frightened of cliches.

Often this is about mimicking and emulating something you love.

Don’t be frightened to display your talents.

I have nothing to lose when I go on lecture rants.

Don’t break the silence.

This is where the John Cage part comes in handy. Record a documentary and enjoy the silence.

Don’t stress one thing more than another.

I’ll level out what I want up front and what’s in the back.

Emphasize differences.

I want people to make sense of everything because the knives are thrown on purpose.

Emphasize repetitions.

Follow the drums and get into a meditative state.

Emphasize the flaws.

Recording on a tape deck sounds cool until you realize how cringe the results sound.

Faced with a choice, do both!

I should do this more often.

Feed the recording back out of the medium.

That’s why there is a “resample” button on the Roland SP-404. Otherwise, I am using Audacity to record the song and then chop it up again.

Feedback recordings into an acoustic situation.

That’s where I am going to press record and capture audio as if it were a film.

Fill every beat with something.

Give it a special sample or a recurring gag in the text.

First work alone, then work in unusual pairs.

This is where I would let a friend help me. Or maybe let someone do it for me.

From nothing to more than nothing.

Think about the spaces and the words that make up the form.

Get your neck massaged.

As long as it’s my entire body too.

Ghost echoes.

Not that I want to be “nostalgic,” but I want to think about trauma and abuse.

Give the game away.

I can joke about what I am really doing here.

Give way to your worst impulse.

I want to destroy and break stuff.

Go outside. Shut the door.

Make sure you don’t have a smartphone either.

Go slowly all the way round the outside.

What do I learn from looking at it from all angles?

Go to an extreme, move back to a more comfortable place.

I’ve done this so many times that I forgot what I am really after in my cocoon.

How would someone else do it?

It wouldn’t sound like me anymore.

How would you explain this to your parents?

“I am an Asiansexual.”

How would you have done it?

Something like if KMFDM were to do it.

Humanize something that is free of error.

That’s where the “slowness” or chance of triggers comes in.

Idiot glee.

I always wanted to say “that line.”

Imagine the music as a moving chain or caterpillar.

Move on to the text scene, to the next, and to the next, and it’s something like a train rushing past you as the last one fades out as something new fades in.

Imagine the music as a series of disconnected events.

And yet does it capture your attention in the allotted space?

In total darkness.

I’ve written before in the dark, and so many words come out misspelled. What can I see that I don’t usually see? What can I think about when I focus on the mind?

In a very large room, very quietly.

The reverb must be swell. Like different planets in a solar system, or a convention hall where everyone works on their own.

Infinitesimal gradations.

The song becomes something else when the viewer stops realizing that the transition has moved past him like a gorilla in a room.

Instead of changing the thing, change the world around it.

I’ll just start making art in a different workspace.

Credibility of intentions.

Does this all make sense in the end? It can’t be just random.

Nobility of intentions.

This should be first, and this should be second.

Humility of intentions.

I did this because this is how good art happens, like “process music.”

Is it finished?

Sometimes, too much clay can ruin what is being emulated. It is never finished, and is only over until one says so.

Is something missing?

My emotions.

Is the intonation correct?

Being louder and quiet at certain swings is the fun part.

Is the style right?

Not sure if it’s even my own.

Is the tuning appropriate?

I could untune it.

It is quite possible (after all).

It’s about what I truly want to say.

It is simply a matter or work.

And whenever I can just get it out by tomorrow!

Just carry on.

I always and will.

Left channel, right channel, centre channel.

I do like the ping-pong effect.

List the qualities it has. List those you’d like.

I am after a certain sound, and there are certain words and forms I like as the identity I show myself to the stranger.

Listen in total darkness.

I’ve done this multiple times to albums I love.

Listen in a very large room, very quietly.

Kind of like being in the dentist's office as you hear the radio muffle what could be an epic movie.

Listen to the quiet voice

Just like speaking, the smallest words mean something to the viewer.

Look at a very small object, look at its centre.

How crazy someone was able to design and construct something so small that human eye cannot see.

Look at the order in which you do things.

Bassline, melody, more melodies, drums, a sample… And then I guess some kind of “composition” ties them in to make sense of what order things are being understood. I’m not sure if people logically think and read in order. Sometimes, people pick up on the small things and forget others. And yet I’m sure time is spent always without ever going backwards.

Look closely at the most embarrassing details and amplify.

My head is going to explode when thinking about how cringe A Goofy Movie really is.

Lost in useless territory.

I could be lost in LSD: Dream Emulator for PS1 and find inspiration in the Myst-like puzzles of real life.

Lowest common denominator check: single beat; single note; single riff.

I might as well compose some music in Protracker for the Amiga.

Magnify the most difficult details.

What does this sound design process tell me about my Eurorack?

Make a blank valuable by putting it in an exquisite frame.

Hear one thought at one time before moving on to the next.

Make a sudden, destructive unpredictable action. Incorporate.

I need to have the school shooter mentality when creating art at all times.

Make an exhaustive list of everything you might do and do the last thing on the list.

I think that’s about “design” and the last thought that came to me yesterday. Soon I’ll forget about it and move on to the next topic.

Make it more sensual.

I’ll add a common sample that a casual person is used to.

Make it more banal.

I can try to make a 10-minute techno track. Not sure if anyone is going to like it. This is, after all, about self-discovery.

Make what’s perfect more human.

Then it’s giving in to mistakes.

Mechanize something idiosyncratic.

Here comes the dice rolling and probability in the machine itself.

Move towards the impossible.

I can’t say if I can ever make Eurobeat like Bratt Sinclaire does.

Move towards the unimportant.

I want people to focus on the shell of the snail and think about why it matters.

Mute and continue.

Let people hear the silence, and then it comes back in booming commotion. And then do it again.

Not building a wall but making a brick.

What aspect of the art makes this feel like this one aspect of a bigger machine behind the text? What truth is revealed now that will all tie in together to make a great whole? Is there a pattern to all this?

Once the search is in progress, something will be found.

At the end of the song, or prose, something is found in its conclusion. Everything before leads to one road.

Only a part, not the whole.

Exactly like the machine metaphor, and exactly like a scene in a movie full of other parts that are not really about the story at all.

Only one element of each kind.

This form is like any other structural form. We can dissect and see what makes it tick.

Overtly resist change.

I like being against John Cage because he has become such a cliche to those who are pretentious and don’t know how to speak. They want to emulate the smart or the popular but don’t even question themselves.

Pae White’s non-blank graphic metacard.

I was more of an Ellsworth Kelly or Peter Halley guy, but I understand how this minimal and conceptual art is the goal and a lot of these modern art experiments…

Pay attention to distractions.

It’s always on my smartphone and it’s always something beautiful that arouses me.

Picture of a man spotlighted.

What would I say in front of strangers?

Put in earplugs.

I’m not distorting what I have to say!

Question the heroic approach.

I don’t want to put my ego in this.

Rearrange.

I’ll rearrange the cables around and put characters in different situations.

Remember those quiet evenings.

Yes. I think about my intimate moments all the time. It’s what keeps me going.

Remove a restriction.

I’ll randomize it and see what happens.

Remove ambiguities and convert to specifics.

Yes. Logic is the best thing ever.

Remove specifics and convert to ambiguities.

I do like reader interpretation, and it’s amazing what other people think about your art.

Remove the middle, extend the edges.

It’s the atonal sound that matters.

Repetition is a form of change.

Sometimes a little snare goes off and you don’t catch that subtle change.

Retrace your steps.

How did I make nothing into a blob of clay that looks like a human?

Revaluation (a warm feeling).

What is the thesis of the argument and what can someone learn from this?

Reverse.

Sometimes there was something there when I read the book backward or chose a chapter to read from without connection. I’ll connect later.

Short circuit (example; a man eating peas with the idea that they will improve his virility shovels them straight into his lap).

I could say eating Eel makes me have seduction powers. I’m not saying this will help the lives of plants, but it certainly has been done before.

Shut the door and listen from outside.

The external world looking at me is a very meta understanding of ourselves. This is like what Heidegger thinks about us.

Simple subtraction.

This subject breaks down that subject.

Simply a matter of work.

Looks like I will be writing about whatever comes to my mind at this special moment in time.

Slow preparation, fast execution.

Bring each thing in, then a giant and quick chorus crash at the end.

Spectrum analysis.

I don’t like that thing sticking out.

State the problem in words as simply as possible.

I might as well write another essay then.

Steal a solution.

Everyone steals and no one citates. That’s both the solution and the problem.

Take a break.

I need sex.

Take away as much mystery as possible. What is left?

It’s about how abuse is formed and what truth is suppressed. Only beauty and logic can show us the real way.

Take away the elements in order of apparent non-importance.

Then the only thing left is what made the song or text.

Take away the important parts.

What are the barebones that made the important possible?

Tape your mouth.

Only think. Don’t speak.

The inconsistency principle.

I don’t know how the garden I make will end up having a life of its own.

The most important thing is the thing most easily forgotten.

Something I wasn’t thinking about will unlock what I wanted to say in the first place.

The tape is now the music.

Giving it a filter or a different process might make the art better. …Or not.

Think inside the work.

What do I usually do when I throw paint on the canvas?

Think outside the work.

Perhaps I should go look somewhere else.

Think of the radio.

I’ll tune into 103.3 WPRB Princeton.

Tidy up.

I’ll definitely use Grammarly here.

Towards the insignificant.

Point the camera at something you don’t really think about.

Trust in the you of now.

What are you today that you won’t become tomorrow? Have you always been the same?

Try faking it.

It’s easy to copy and paste any code you like.

Turn it upside down.

What comes first must come last.

Twist the spine.

I won’t look at it until an hour later.

Use “unqualified” people.

I’ll get input from the worst people ever who hate art.

Use an old idea.

I got a list of them!

Use an unacceptable color.

Brown.

Use cliches.

“Oh well, Orwell!”

Use fewer notes.

Then I guess we just have a boring drone and some meditation that goes nowhere.

Use filters.

I prefer to use a big low-pass filter and put disco loops through it.

Use something nearby as a model.

Everyone loves to try out “object-oriented writing.”

Use your own ideas.

That’s what I do every day.

Voice your suspicions.

It’s why I wrote over 8 books!

Water.

Is this the blue gem in Bomberman 64?

Fire.

The red one?

Earth.

The green one?

Wind.

…The yellow one?

Heart.

What I love is what motivates me.

What are the sections sections of? (Imagine a caterpillar moving).

If a song is a caterpillar, perhaps we are listening to how it moves past us like a speeding train.

What context would look right?

Something out of a board game design.

What do you do? Now, what do you do best?

I write. But most importantly, I lecture.

What else is this like?

Something like a visual art piece that words could describe as well.

What is the reality of the situation?

We are in a liberal transhumanist state of self-hate.

What is the simplest solution?

Let AI do it.

What mistakes did you make last time?

I forget to indent and choose the right readable fonts.

What most recently impressed you? How is it similar? What can you learn from it? What could you take from it?

Skinny Puppy in 2023. Perhaps it’s about trauma horror.

What to increase? What to reduce? What to maintain?

The melody, the noise, and the lyrics.

What were the branch points in the evolution of this entity?

The eurorack cables going to program this module into that one.

What were you really thinking about just now? Incorporate.

A series of old lovers that takes another form into the cartoon or someone else.

What would make this really successful?

Putting it on cassette tape and selling it on Bandcamp with a pretty front cover.

What would your closest friend do?

Play video games and show me obscure titles.

What wouldn’t you do? Do that.

I could try something new.

When is it for?

This summer season.

Who is it for?

Everyone who thinks like me.

Where is the edge?

My impossible voice.

Which parts can be grouped?

Each track can be leveled in a mixer and performed. Each chapter makes sense and ties in with the entire thesis.

Who would make this really successful?

Perhaps a friend I know.

Work at a different speed.

I’ll go ahead and turn the tempo down.

Would anyone want it?

Only the smart ones.

You are an engineer.

I know. I try to perfect that art.

You can only make one dot at a time.

Then I will end up making a 12-track synthetic drum machine with bleeps and bloops. One dictionary entry is one more element in this different world.

You don’t have to be ashamed of using your own ideas.

No. Never have I felt that way.

Your mistake was a hidden intention.

I’m starting to realize that with all the mistakes I made in the past and how some of the art just became better by age and isolation.

—

…And that’s everything!

-pe

7-29-2024